Papillon (1973) - IMDb IMDb There was an error trying to load your rating for this title. Some parts of this page won't work property. Please reload or try later. X Beta I'm Watching This! Keep track of everything you watch; tell your friends. Error A man befriends a fellow criminal as the two of them begin serving their sentence on a dreadful prison island, which inspires the man to plot his escape. Director: From $2.99 (SD) on Amazon Video ON DISC a list of 26 titles created 23 Nov 2011 a list of 33 titles created 19 Feb 2012 a list of 43 titles created 08 Apr 2012 a list of 39 titles created 20 Nov 2013 a list of 26 titles created 2 weeks ago Search for " Papillon " on Amazon.com Connect with IMDb Want to share IMDb's rating on your own site? Use the HTML below. You must be a registered user to use the IMDb rating plugin. Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 2 wins & 1 nomination.

See more awards » Photos Allied prisoners of war plan for several hundred of their number to escape from a German camp during World War II. Director: John Sturges A recently released ex-con and his loyal wife go on the run after a heist goes awry. Director: Sam Peckinpah An all guts, no glory San Francisco cop becomes determined to find the underworld kingpin that killed the witness in his protection. Director: Peter Yates 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.6/10 X Alcatraz is the most secure prison of its time. It is believed that no one can ever escape from it, until three daring men make a possible successful attempt at escaping from one of the most infamous prisons in the world. Director: Don Siegel Edit Storyline A semi-fictional account of Henri Charrière 's time in the penal system in French Guyana - some of it spent on infamous Devil's Island - is presented. It's the early 1930s.

Charrière - nicknamed Papillon because of his butterfly tattoo - and Louis Dega are two among many who have been convicted in the French judicial system, they now being transferred to French Guyana where they will serve their time, never to return to France even if they are ever released. A safe-cracker by criminal profession, Papillon is serving a life sentence for murdering a pimp, a crime for which he adamantly states he was framed. Dega is a wealthy counterfeiter, who expects his well-to-do wife eventually to get him released. On Papillon's initiative, Papillon and Dega enter into a business arrangement: Papillon will provide protection for Dega, while Dega will finance Papillon's escape attempt. As Papillon and Degas' time together lasts longer than either expects, their burgeoning friendship ends up being an ... Written by Huggo Did You Know? Trivia Reportedly, the producers began taking raw footage to backers in Paris and getting just enough cash to keep things rolling. For a period of three weeks, money ran out and nobody got paid, and it looked as though the production would be shut down altogether.

When Steve McQueen found out, he told the producers, "Unless everyone gets paid, I don't work." The situation improved after that. See more » Goofs At a scene in St. Laurent, there are mountains in the background, presumably on the Suriname side of the river. There are no mountains in that part of Suriname. See more » Quotes Papillon – The Butterfly Pinned..? | Robert Walsh Recent Articles Papillon – The Butterfly Pinned..? Meet Henri Charriere. Frenchman, Venezuelan, career criminal, transportee to Devil’s Island, denier of the murder that sent him there, happy to claim to have committed a murder while he was there and general storyteller and writer. Also known as ‘Papillon (due to a butterfly tattoo on his chest) and writer of the eponymous book turned into the 1973 movie starring Steve McQueen and Dustin Hoffman (on which he was also technical adviser). We know that Charriere was convicted of the manslaughter of Roland LeGrand, a pimp of no particular note or repute. We know that Charriere received a sentence of life in the penal colonies of French Guiana with an extra ten-year sentence tacked on to it.

We know that he actually went to Guiana aboard ‘La Martiniere’ and that he did indeed know Louis Dega, and that Dega was indeed a forger (and a very good one apart from getting himself caught and sent to Guiana for the rest of his life). We know that he was married before his exile to Guiana and married again in Venezuela after his successful escape from the penal colonies. We know his mother died when he was only ten years old and that he served two years in the French Navy before joining the Parisian underworld as a safe-cracker. Everything else that appears in ‘Papillon’ is open to question. Did it happen to Charriere personally? Did he steal other inmates’ stories, passing them off as his own personal experiences? How many of them were his experiences or even happened? Was Henri Charriere really ‘Papillon’ at all? Charriere definitely arrived on the 1933 shipment from France to St.Laurent, capital of the colony and of the numerous prison camps that formed the ‘Penal Administration, French Guiana.’ He claimed that his first escape was made within weeks of arrival.

Penal colony records state he was there for nearly a year before his first unauthorised absence. That he made eight further escapes, this too can’t be confirmed. That he killed an informer after being transferred to Royale Island, odd to admit that murder while denying the one that sent him to Guiana in the first place. He claimed to have spent several months with Guajira Indians while on the run through Colombia during one unsuccessful escape, which is also unconfirmed except by Charriere’s own account. Charriere also claimed to have saved a young girl’s life by fending off sharks during a swimming break when he was in solitary on St. Joseph Island for an escape attempt. A different account states that the incident did indeed happen, but that the inmate who made the save lost both his legs to a shark and died soon afterward. While transferred to Royale Island (home to so-called ‘Incos’ or ‘Incorrigibles’, Charriere claimed to have been both a ringleader in a convict mutiny and also to have calmed the same mutiny down, his status as an ‘Inco’ being enough to persuade other ‘Incos’ to abandon their insurrection.

Again, other inmates and penal colony records suggest strongly that Charriere was actually a peaceful inmate who caused very little trouble except for escaping. They also suggest he was largely content in his job on Royale Island cleaning out the latrines. According to Charriere he was a hardened felon and desperate escaper. According to seemingly everybody else, official or otherwise, he was happy to work most of the time as a shit-shoveller for other convicts. There’s also the small matter of his supposed escape from Devil’s Island itself by floating to the mainland aboard a sack of coconuts with another inmate named Sylvain. Sylvain drowned in mud while trying to reach land, according to Papillon, which leaves nobody to corroborate his story or to explain why a conventional criminal like Charriere would be confined to Devil’s Island when that island was only used to hold political prisoners. In fact, of the 70,000 or so inmates sent to Guiana, only around 50 were ever confined to Devil’s Island itself. Neither Charriere nor his supporters can explain that or why, according to Penal Administration records, Charriere’s legendary successful escape through the Guiana jungle was made from St. Laurent where he was assigned at the time.

Nor is there any explanation as to why Charriere freely references events in his book such as a convict-turned-executioner’s sadistic murder or the so-called ‘Cannibals Break.’ During that particular escape a group of escapers became so desperate they cooked and ate one of their group to survive. One member of that group (who declined the free buffet) was fellow-inmate Rene Belbenoit, himself a successful escaper and author of the far more reliable ‘Dry Guillotine,’ The biggest problem of all for Charriere’s devotees, aside from the many inconsistencies and contradictions is Charriere’s book, a book he passed off as a memoir and not as a work of fiction, is the existence until 2007 of one Charles Brunier. Charles Brunier was a First World War veteran, armed robber and murderer sent to Guiana before Charriere. According to Brunier, he was ‘Papillon’, not Charriere. Brunier openly acused Charriere of lying and stealing the experiences of other inmates while claiming them to be his own. Brunier was also an unwilling resident of the colonies until 1940 when he escaped and joined the Free French forces under Charles de Gaulle.

He also wore a number of tattoos, one of which just happened to be of a large butterfly adorning his chest and the withered little finger, both identifying marks of the real ‘Papillon.’ In 1970, former Paris-Match reporter Gerard de Villiers wrote ‘Papillon Egpingle’ (‘Butterfly Pinned’), openly accusing Charriere of being a fraud and producing much evidence to prove his case. Charriere, infuriated, didn’t try to debate de Villiers’s book, he simply tried to have it banned instead rather than disprove the allegations made. A distinct body of opinion began to coalesce around Charriere being a plagiarist and a fraud, not least the damning opinion of Truman Capote who openly derided him as a liar and a fake. There’s no denying that Henri Charriere knew how to write, he knew how to tell a story and how to spin a few myths.

But as other inmates accused him of stealing their experiences, the official records show him to have lied on numerous occasions, French officialdom openly states that the truth of his book can be divided by ten to get to what he actually experienced, a reliable journalist has solidly disproved many of his claims and Truman Capote openly called him a fraud, it’s pretty hard to deny that he was also a professional liar as well. That said, he was a pretty successful one. Certainly a better author and liar than he was a safe-cracker. And is anybody of reasonable intelligence really so surprised to read a criminal memoir and then find it’s been spun like a DJ’s record collection? Somehow, I doubt it. Anybody looking for a longer account of the Guiana penal system can find one here, published by my colleagues at History Is Now Magazine: The Making of Papillon What's your next favorite movie? Join our movie community to find out Image from: Life of Pi (2012) The Making of Papillon Posted May 26, 2011 04:24 PM by Robert Siegel The Silver Screen Classic Escape film still admired after 38 years Few can argue that Papillon is not a classic.

The combined talents of Steve McQueen, Dustin Hoffman, and the entire cast, Director Franklin J. Schaffner and his crew, all made for an intense drama that is captivating. The history of the production is as rich as the picture, and we now take a look at a film that has retained its popularity for almost 40 years. About Devil's Island First opened in 1852 under Emperor Napoleon III's reign, Devil's Island penal colony has been one of the most infamous prisons in history. This prison was home to political prisoners and hardened criminals. Prisoners that attempted to escape faced piranha, Crocodile and snake infested rivers and very thick jungle surroundings. Those making the attempt were put in solitary confinement for periods of a year or more, irons and shackles as well as added years to their sentence. In 1895 the colony gained additional notoriety when Alfred Dreyfus, a Jewish captain in the French army, was sent to Devil's Island after being falsely accused of treason. He would finally be released in 1899 with his name cleared. This made the prison world-famous.

Part of the prison as it looks today The warden had more "comfortable" quarters Prisoners sent to Devil's Island were exposed to hell-hole conditions. Many were worked to death. Tropical storms, malaria and floods claimed some 10,000 prisoners. There was also a mental ward on the facility, which was said to be extremely cruel with its prisoner treatment. Of 80,000 men that were sent to this prison, only 30,000 survived. The prison closed in 1946. The prison was used for several films, for instance "Phantom of the Opera" (1925) in which this prison is where the phantom escaped from. The 1955 film "We're No Angels" takes place on Devil's Island. More than 50,000 tourists visit the prison each year, and no doubt many mention "Papillon." To escape meant facing piranha, crocodiles, sharks and drowning What remains of an entrance to Devil's Island Without bars as it appears today Director Franklin J.

Schaffner history and interviews A common fear in the movie industry in the early 1970's was producing lavishly-budgeted films, which many predicted as being automatic financial disasters. It is the same today, only on a much larger financial scale. It was a trepidation unfamiliar to the highly- talented and successful director, Franklin J. Schaffner. His pictures had varied in budget from $1.5 million for "The Best Man" to $12.5 million spent on Patton, a film which earned him an Academy Award. And "Papillon" became his biggest at $13 million. "I'm not conscious of an extra burden when doing an expensive picture like 'Papillon" Schaffner said in an interview on the set. "The devotion, skill, responsibility and creativity are not affected by accountants. The toughest part of making a picture, I find, is to get started. There is always something gnawing at the back of your mind saying, 'Maybe I can delay.' The difficulty is laying a secure enough platform beneath you. The second toughest part of making a picture is finishing itï¿½ the post production and editing.

This is so for psychological rather than physiological reasons." It is interesting that Schaffner's career as a major motion picture director is based on experience gained from working with the relatively smaller medium of television; and his precise use of the camera and capacity for drawing out his actors stem, in great measure, from this background in which he won four Emmys. In the late 1950's and early 60's, Schaffner joined CBS Television where he covered public events, sports and political conventions. After working four years on Studio One, Schaffner worked for two years on "Playhouse 90." "What makes television such an influential medium is its sense of instant drama. A political convention, an investigation, news as we see it every night ï¿½the whole character of the national psychology has changed because of the news and live drama." Schaffner also gained experience working on the stage, and directed the 1951 Broadway play "Advise and Consent" (winner Variety Critics Poll for direction).

This in turn led to his first of numerous film contracts, "The Stripper." But it was from the previous influence of television, with its quality of instant, live drama, that laid the basis for an important theme in Schaffner's work with filmï¿½that is, dealing with monumental figures during explosive points in history. It is a theme which by its very nature necessitates the commitment of a large budgeted project. "Patton," for example, dealt with the life of a famous general whose fanatical motivations and abilities influenced the outcome of World War II, and whose personal eccentricities became legendary. And in "Nicholas and Alexandra," Schaffner sensitively probed the life and era of the last of the Russian Czars, a man who, as Schaffner remarks, "loses his throne and gains his soul." "Papillon" too contains the ingredients with which Schaffner liked to work. Based on the autobiographical best-selling novel by Henri Charriere, the film recounts the many breathtaking escapes by Charriere (known as Papillon because of a butterfly tattoo on his chest) from the French penal colonies at Devil's Island and French Guiana.

It is a quick-moving picture with realistic action and violence, but also an intimate, poetic glimpse into the nature of its characters. Schaffner was jubilant about the cast, headed by Steve McQueen in the title role and Dustin Hoffman as a fellow convict, Dega. "McQueen was an obvious choice for the part of Papillon, a complicated individual with an almost supernatural sense of power and leadership. Steve succeeded in combining 'Papi's' qualities of fitful revenge, obsessive daring and passion for freedom. It's perhaps the best and most chal- lenging role of Steve's career." Director Franklin J. Schaffner on the set Schaffner was equally elated with Hoffman's portrayal of Dega. "Dega is a total paradox," the director explains. "He is both an urbane French skeptic and a convicted counterfeiter who robbed the French people of millions. Dustin completely immersed himself in the soul of this character during the entire shooting period. In the end, the hard work paid off ï¿½ Hoffman evolves as the quixotic personality that is truly Louis Dega." The most fascinating aspect of the picture for Schaffner is the relationship drawn between the two main characters.

"Papillon and Dega compose an unhappy marriage. Within each of the two men is the alter ego of the other. Hoffman is the intellect who must cope with the reality of his own animal instincts in the daily struggle for survival. And McQueen is the paragon of reckless masculinity, with an inner sensitivity struggling for release. The theme of the movie itself, in other words, is illustrated by these two men.

Theirs is an exploration of the struggle between destructive inhumanity and compassion, between imprisonment and freedom ï¿½ not only within the confines of a Devil's Island, but also within the confines of man's very nature." Schaffner did not direct many films, but the ones he did direct are well-known boxoffice successes, including "The War Lord" "Planet-of-the-Apes"and "PattonHe also directed "The Boys from Brazil", "Islands in the Stream" and "Yes Giorgio." He was also active in television, directing many "DuPont Show of the Week" programs, six episodes of "The Defenders" and nineteen episodes of "Playhouse 90." Schaffner's Award Famed French Author wrote the original Story Bitter irony marked the death of Henri Charriere, famed French criminal and author nick- named "Papillon" because of the butterflyï¿½symbolic of freedomï¿½tattooed on his chest.

For a rebel who survived 13 harrowing years in the notoriously cruel penal colonies in French Guiana and then escaped to write his experiences into what emerged as the international best-seller "Papillon," death from illness at age 66 seemed anti-climactic. Charriere's autobiography, one of the greatest contemporary adventures, is so compelling that it inspired the movie, "Papillon," True to the book, the film is a harrowing account of the brutal conditions endured by convicts serving time in the since-abandoned French penal colonies and of the superhuman efforts of Charriere to escape the hellish surroundings. What emerges from both the book and movie is really more than a story of action and suspense-it is a portrayal of the ultimate triumph of the human spirit over all odds. Unfortunately, Charriere, who died in August of the production year, did not live to see his story re-enacted on the screen; but after visiting during the shooting of the film in Jamaica, he left assured of its authenticity. Visibly affected by the prison set, an exact replica of the original compound still standing on Devil's Island, he remarked to Academy Award-winning director, Franklin J.

Schaffner, "Even after 35 years of freedom, I'm still looking over my shoulders to see if the guards are following me." The real Henri Charriere at Devil's Island Charriere claimed to have been born a rebel on November 16,1906, in the South of France, where both his father and mother were teachers in a primary school. At the age of 11, his mother died and because of an incident in school in which he stabbed another student with a compass, he was expelled and enlisted as a sailor in the fleet. Unable to accept the life of automatic discipline, Charriere spent half of his enlistment in the brig. Inciting the hostility of his commanding officers, he was finally sent to Corsica in a disciplinary unit. At age 18, he managed to crush his thumb between two rocks, was discharged from the military service, and sent back home. Since he could not present any certificate of good conduct in the French Army, he failed to find a job and, feeling rejected, decided to go to Paris.

"In Paris," Charriere claimed, "it did not take long before I became a bad guy and got acquainted with a gang specializing in burglary and the breaking of safesï¿½but only the breaking of safes belonging to State agencies, not to private enterprises or people." In 1931, Charriere was convicted of murdering a Montmarte pimp, and sentenced to life imprisonment. He said he was innocent, the victim of dishonest informers and a miscarriage of justice. Jfharriere was sent to Cayenne, the capital of French Guiana. Three years later he escaped from the penitentiary, landed in a colony of lepers, then sailed away on a frail boat to the Gulf of Maracaibo. He lived among jungle Indians, moved on, was caught, shipped to Devil's Island and kept there for two years in solitary confinement. Henri Charriere months before his death He tried several more escapes and finally succeeded on his last ï¿½a paddle over a shark-filled sea on a raft of dried coconuts.

He found refuge in Venezuela, worked as a gold digger, oil prospector and pearl merchant and did other odd jobs before settling down in Caracas, marrying, opening a restaurant and becoming a prosperous Venezuelan citizen. At the age of 62, he stumbled on the novels of Albertine Sarrazin, a former prostitute and jailbird, and, spurred by her literary good fortune, decided to describe his own experiences. In a few months, he filled 13 copybooks with his autobiography and sent it to a Parisian publisher, who became enthusiastic about the manuscript. The book has since sold over 17 million copies world-wide and 5 million copies in the United States alone. Charriere wrote a motion picture, "Popsy Pop," and starred in it himself with Claudia Cardinale. He also wrote a sequel to "Papillon" which did not approach its success. Another book, "Banco," was published by William Morrow and Co. in December, 1973. In 1970, the French Minister of Justice signed a decree of grace formally removing the legal restrictions which prevented Charriere from returning to Paris.

On a visit to New York in 1970, a time of prison rioting throughout this country, Char- riere proved himself a leader of social justice, declaring that society was "guilty of collective sadism" in the way it treated criminals and suspects; and that the treatment does not diminish but increases the sum of crime. "The best school of crime is jail," Charriere remarked. "The biggest defect of American justice is bail. The ones who have money can pay the bail. The man with no money must stay in jail." Charriere, the humanitarian convict, has left behind in both book and movie form his epic of a miraculous battle against the injustices of a dehumanized establishment. The cry "Vive Papillon!" has become a reality. Japanese poster for Papillon Steve McQueen talked about Papillon "My name could as easily have been Papillon, too," stated Steve McQueen in a moment of self- revelation while discussing his movie in an after-release interview.

McQueen points out that while the late Charriere's nickname, Papillon, came from the tattoo of a butterfly on his chest, "it was also a symbolic reference to this man's character, to his need, like that of a butterfly, to live free or not at all." It was this same strain in McQueen's personality, career, and life experiences which made him not only the first, but the only, choice of director Franklin J. Schaffner for the title role. "Success as an actor, and the wealth that has come with it," Schaffner explained, "has never changed the underlying nature of Steve. He's still basically the same youngster whose resistance to any restraints ultimately led him to minor encounters with the law and then a period in the Boys Republic of Chino, a local California institution for teen-agers." The young McQueen followed this period by signing on a Greek oil tanker, jumping ship in the Dominican Republic and returning to the United States where he became a roustabout in Texas oil fields. Among other jobs tried by the peripatetic McQueen. none held down for any protracted period , were a tree topper in Canadian lumber camps and a barker with a carnival.

Steve McQueen taking a break Publicity shot of Steve McQueen "I kept being driven by this restless feeling. I seemed always to be looking for somethingï¿½never knowing what it wasï¿½but always there was the sense that I couldn't be confined and shouldn't be confined. And that's exactly what I felt in common when I read 'Papillon'," McQueen recalled. "This man who had been restless and moving, suddenly found himself imprisoned, and his natural and involuntary reaction was, 'I must get out of this damned place.' Of course, the kind of inhuman, brutalizing treatment that was then practiced in the French penal colonies in those days added to his desire to be free." Rare on-set photo Steve McQueen takes a break on the set After serving as a tank driver and mechanic in the Marine Corps, the real-life McQueen began to feel a sense of belonging by hanging around stock-car racing tracks and motorcycle garages. Charriere, on the other hand, after a number of aborted escapes and long stretches in solitary confinement, which only reinforced his determination to achieve freedom, finally reached Venezuela, where the government gave him sanctuary and he built a new life as a restaurateur.

It was many years later, at the age of 62, that he spent two months filling 13 notebooks with his remembrances of adventures and escapes. From these notes came "Papillon," which sold more than 5 million copies in the United States and 17 million around the world. Rare poster from Yugoslavia The changing point in McQueen's life occurred when an actress friend introduced him to Sanford Meisner, the famed drama teacher, who offered the surprised young man a role in a Yiddish play on Second Avenue. For the first time, McQueen enjoyed the feeling of having found his place. Summer stock, Broadway and television came in that order before he made his film debut in Allied Artists' "Never Love a Stranger." Throughout his acting career, he has played roles which required controlled action and an intimation of dynamic restlessness below the surface of the character. If it wasn't for his impressively successful acting career, McQueen might have become a top driver on the international racing tour. He has been competing in motorcycle and auto races since 1953. Before retiring from active competition, McQueen was sponsored by the British Motor Corp. in races in this country and abroad.

Steve McQueen in rare humorous publicity shot As with all complex individuals, there is another, incongruous side to the actor which he exposes only to those close to him. One of his major interests is helping deprived children. This includes supporting and publicizing the Boys Republic of Chino. While making "The Sand Pebbles" in Taiwan, he and director Robert Wise became involved in the work of Father Edward Wojniak to found Taiwan Hostels, a shelter for poor country girls who are homeless in Taipei. McQueen and Wise provided finances for Father Wojniak to enlarge his program of operations. Although his scene has changed, and with it some of his emotions, McQueen still remembers his earlier, turbulent life. "Thinking back, I feel that I must have spent almost a third of my life being angry and never knowing why.

Maybe it was because I came from the streets, and feeling second-class caused a resentment which brought out rebellion and hostility." Now that is gone, but the actor was able "to comprehend the same inner feelings of Charriere and to use them to my advantage as an actor while portraying him in "Papillon." Original Lobby Card set Ratna Assan, at 18, made her film debut Ratna Assan makes her film debut in Allied Artists' "Papillon," portraying a young Colombian Indian girl who falls in love with Steve McQueen, in the title role. The 18-year-old beauty, holder of a Brown Belt in karate, was born in Torrance, Calif., from parents of Indonesian stock. Her mother and father were both professional dancers, and at one time her mother was known as "Pavlova of the Orient." Raised in Los Angeles, she was a cheerleader in junior high and high school. She members, "was that I felt involved and at the same time I felt free. That had never happened before... at least to me." She studied dancing with several teachers including Bert Privell, Rosalind Fray and Carmelita Maracci.

While attending high school, she danced professionally, and was a member of a singing group called Spice Garden, which recorded several sides with Ray Charles. Following in the footsteps of her parents, Ratna is proficient in various types of dance including Oriental, Belly, Hawaiian, Ballet and Jazz. In her brief professional career she appeared in several episodes of the television series, "Mr. Roberts"; she was a regular on the video series, "Destry"; and she played Yul Brynner's youngest wife in the TV series, "Anna and The King." An animal lover, she lives in California with her parents and her three hens, four roosters, seven cats and two dogs. Ratna Assan and Steve McQueen Dustin Hoffman Absorbed the role of Louis Dega In one sense, "Papillon" was an "ideal" picture for Dustin Hoffman during shooting "because, unlike most films, it was shot in continuity"ï¿½in the same order that it unfolds on the screen. But the actor's involvement in understanding and creating his starring role of Dega required considerable time, discussion and concentration.

Hoffman explains that "for any actor, but especially for one from the stage, shooting in consecutive order is a great help in developing a character. The usual way, for economy, is to shoot all scenes in the same locale or on the same set regardless of their order in the movie. Frequently what happens is that one day during the second month of filming you suddenly understand further aspects of the character you are playing but it is, of course, too late to re-shoot the earlier scenes you did before you arrived at a closer understanding of the person you are playing." Hoffman's initial starring film, "The Graduate," was shot "about 80 percent in continuity, which is pretty good compared to most pictures, and it was helpful to me at the time . . . especially since it was my first major role before a camera." Hoffman's next picture, "Midnight Cowboy," also had some sequences which were done consecutively, but Director Franklin J. Schaffner's concept to shoot the whole of "Papillon" sequentially "made it an ideal picture" for the actor. Dustin Hoffman studio publicity shot B&W publicity still, Dustin Hoffman Hoffman's preparation before filming, however, was not so simple.

In addition to his usual meticulous and in-depth research for a role, he became involved with Dalton Trumbo, co-author of the script, in creating the character he portrays. "Actually, the character I play in the film is composed of a couple of characters in the bookï¿½the Dega of Charriere's 'Papillon' was a minor oneï¿½and the result of many long discussions with Trumbo," according to Hoffman.

A unique consequence of these talks between actor and author was that Hoffman suggested that Trumbo "write the character off himself." Hoffman remembers how impressed he was when he first met Trumbo and in their subsequent meetings he discovered aspects of the writer's person-ity which he felt "were appropriate for the man I saw Dega to be." As Trumbo described the fictional individual, Hoffman began to see the two merging: "Trumbo's sophistication overlays a dynamic strength and integrity which I felt was applicable to Dega." Belgian style poster and one of the most valuable Before reading the script, Hoffman recalls, "I knew that I wouldn't be interested in doing the film if it was going to be one of those buddy prison pictures where Steve McQueen and I would be required to play charismatic head to head." Behind Hoffman's ideas concerning his role in "Papillon" was a period of research and study. He spent weeks in the New York Public Library reading everything on the shelves concerning French penal colonies. "I studied about ten or twelve books on prison life there. One of the books was by a former inmate, an art forger whose life had great similarities with what I thought about Dega, who was a counterfeiter.

I drew from this man's real life experiences as a frame of reference for filling out my concept of Dega." The actor also studied photographs and paintings of the French penal colony of that period. Two actors in the film had less difficulty creating and preparing for their roles, Hoffman points out with a smile. "They more or less did it on the spur of the momentï¿½my wife, Anne, who plays my wife in the film, and Trumbo, who plays a prison Commandant." Both got their parts in the same way, according to the actor. "Trumbo, Schaffner, my wife and I were sitting in the hotel lobby in Spain, where some of the location shooting took place, discussing the difficulty in finding a local woman for the part of my wife. As a joke, I suggested Anne. She laughed but Schaffner and Trumbo thought it was a good idea." When Mrs. Hoffman said she wouldn't know what to do, her husband said, "Wave goodbye and act like you'll never see me again." She replied: "Do I have to feel sad?" She got the part.

In the same way, when no local man could be found to play the Commandant, Schaffner turned to Trumbo. But the writer had to be talked into it, Hoffman recalls, "because he didn't want to have his hair cut." A friendly on-set moment captured on film Production Production Designer Anthony Masters and Art Director Jack Maxsted spent more than a year researching and supervising the building of the huge prison set, which was over 800 feet long, making it the largest set constructed for a motion picture at the time. A crew of British construction experts worked side by side with Jamaican carpenters, painters and plasterers in the preparation of the prison set and various other sets used in the film. In addition, almost all of the extras used in the movie were from Jamaica. The 600 French prisoners were recruited from a colony of Germans who emigrated to Jamaica as farmers years ago and who still reside in their own community on the island. The prison ship in the film is actually a cargo vessel which sails the Caribbean and which bears a striking resemblance to the original ship La Martiniere, which is in a French museum.

Over 1,000 extras were used in the scenes lensed in Fuenterrabia, Spain, in which the convicts board the prison ship to be transported to the French penal colony off the Coast of South America. Making her screen debut as Dustin Hoffman's wife, who bids him farewell as he boards the ship, is Hoffman's real life wife, Anne Byrne, a ballet dancer. Rare artwork from Italy One of the most interested visitors to the set during the production was the late Henri Charriere. Charriere found the prison set to be identical with the real prison where he had been incarcerated 35 years ago. He also saw the Devil's Island location which he thought absolutely perfect in its reality, and watched the filming at the Colombian village location, an exact replica of the tiny village where he was sheltered and found romance during one of his escapes. The cast contains some of the most respected character actors appearing in motion pictures and one newcomer. Victor Jory portrays the Indian Chief; George Coulouris plays the prison doctor; Don Gordon, Robert Deman and William Mumy portray prisoners; and Anthony Zerbe plays the head of a leper colony.

The newcomer is 18-year-old California-born Ratna Assan, who makes her film debut in "Papillon" playing a native girl who falls in love with McQueen. Music The music for the movie was composed by Jerry Goldsmith, whose previous film scores have earned him five Academy Award nominations. This was, according to Goldsmith, one of his favorite movies to score. In the music studio, he said, "This is the kind of work I really enjoy. To be able to vision such intense drama and create a score for this film was a very enjoyable experience for me. It was not without its problems, due to the contrast in characters, but in the end I think it worked fairly well." Most common poster is the USA re-release poster style A Release Allied Artists released Papillon on December 16, 1973, an interesting Christmas release. It was released in 35mm Panavision 2:35:1 with 4 track magnetic stereo. It opened in most other countries in 1974.

Costing $12 million (part of which was the location shooting in Jamaica, France, Spain and Hawaii), it earned $22 million in theatrical grosses in the United States, so counting foreign boxoffice, the film made quite a sum of money at $53 million to date. Jerry Goldsmith would be the only one nominated for an Oscar for his musical score, while Steve McQueen was nominated for a Golden Globe. Both lost. But the film remains a fan favorite and stands today as a top rated drama. For discussion on this and other Silver Screen columns, see The Silver Screen forum thread Here ‘Papillon’ Remake: Rami Malek to Star With Charlie Hunnam | Variety Mark Von Holden/REX/Shutterstock August 3, 2016 | 09:15AM PT “Mr. Robot” star Rami Malek is in negotiations to co-star with Charlie Hunnam in the remake of the 1973 Steve McQueen film “ Papillon .” Hunnam will play the role originated by McQueen, while Malek is in talks to take on Dustin Hoffman’s character.

The movie will shoot in September, directed by Michael Noer from a script by “Prisoners” writer Aaron Guzikowski. “ Papillon ” is backed by Red Granite, and Joey McFarland, Riza Aziz, David Koplan, Ram Bergman, and Roger Corbi are producing. The movie is a modern retelling of the original, based on the memoirs of convicted felon and fugitive Henri Charriere, who staged an epic escape from Devil’s Island, a notorious penal colony in French Guiana, South America. The petty criminal from the Parisian underworld was unjustly convicted of murder in 1930s France. Charriere provides protection from fellow thug inmates for quirky counterfeiter Louis Dega (to be played by Malek), who in turn agrees to finance his prison escape. Malek was recently nominated for an Emmy for his role as Elliot on the hit USA show “Mr. Robot,” which is currently in its second season. He is repped by WME. Deadline Hollywood first reported the news.

Question: What was the real name of the criminal known as Papillon?
Answer: HENRI CHARRIERE